Thanks Harry. We appreciate all the time and effort you put into making these for the CTX3030 users. HH Randy

You'll never know for sure......unless you dig it! HH "Digger"

After more than 46-years of detecting, and having owned dozens of different detectors, I've come to the conclusion that maintaining success in the field is largely dependent on three things..... choice of site, acquiring a proper skill set for the detector and the detector itself..... in that order. Research, practice and persistence. There are no substitutes.

New use of CTX. Ive noticed similar pattern numbers on my screen digging pull tabs as well as bottle caps. The pulls tabs seem around 12.13, bottle caps 12.30's yet some 12.14's. Confusing . I think I have silver further toward with right screen in the 12.40's. (haven't found a quarter yet hope it will be about like the dimes were) Yet found pennies in the silver area. Does anyone see these same patterns?
Or I will dig tons of caps and pull tabs!
How would one ever found gold rings that would sound like junk. ?
Got lots of questions!

How important is the sensitivity setting? DO most leave it on auto setting for the beginner with the CTX? Or is it better to switch to manual and try. Does that mean more sensitive to junk? More sensitive to deeper everything? If you go manual whats a good setting to try ?

Others on this forum are way more knowledgeable on this than I am, but I'll try to help. Others can jump in with more if needed. This is in the CTX manual:

NOTES
In Auto Sensitivity the detector is able to operate at a higher sensitivity level than you are able
to achieve for the same noise level.
Most Beaches are non‐mineralized, therefore greater depth can be achieved using the highest
stable Manual Sensitivity.

From what I can tell, minelab pretty much recommends auto sensitivity in most cases. They claim that the CTX can get better depth with more stability using auto than you can using manual. Many users seem to get good results using manual. My guess though is that they are pretty experienced.

It would be my opinion that a beginner should use auto. Become familiar with the machine, the sounds it makes, the visual indications, and the reliability of the detections. Meaning, when it detects something, is there really something there? (read about halo effect) When you become familiar, you may then want to experiment with manual and see if you can do better and get greater depth.

I'll tell you what I remember about how auto and manual work. I may not have it completely correct, but it's pretty close. By unstable, this mainly means that the detector starts to read false signals. There's nothing there.

The CTX sends three frequencies down into the ground for depth. In auto, the CTX can adjust these three frequencies independently. If frequency one gets unstable at 15, the CTX can set it at 14. If frequency two gets unstable at 17, it will be set at 16. But, perhaps frequency three can get all the way to level 26 where it begins to get unstable and be set at 25. The result being that you get good depth and good stability.

In manual, when you adjust the level, all three frequencies get adjusted at the same time to the same level. You can't change that. So, if only of those frequencies gets unstable at say 17, then you have a slightly unstable detector a 17. And it will get more unstable with higher settings.

That is why minelab says that the CTX auto setting can do better than you can with manual. I'm guessing that experienced users can sometimes tell the difference between a false signal and a good one. Plus, perhaps they're willing to dig some empty holes in order to get more depth in manual.

As for a higher sensitivity to junk; Yes, higher sensitivity to junk, higher sensitivity to good items, and higher sensitivity to false signals. Setting your sensitivity higher gives you greater depth, but might make your machine crazy enough with false signals that it may become basically unusable.

As for a good setting for manual, I think others could give you better instructions on how to find a good setting in manual. But, as I said, I think a beginner should stick with auto for a while before pushing it with manual. And that's what a higher manual setting is, you're pushing it.

My personal experience has been Auto + 3 is deeper than manual in my soil on both the E-Trac and CTX. I've tested many targets and manual in most cases makes the signal worse. The technical description of auto vs manual also leans to favor auto. I think it is one of those things like if a few people claimed they get better depth with their coil upside down before long we'd have many people making the claim they get better depth with their coil upside down. I've search youtube and find no videos to support the claim manual goes deeper. In fact, I see the opposite. I don't know I just how my doubts about claims a person can out guess a computer. Maybe in the right conditions, but in my soil auto + 3 beats out manual every time.

Hello frogmanungar. I think I could have answered your question about TID numbers more completely.

Your numbers for pull-tabs and bottle caps are correct. These are the numbers we all see. But, not all pull-tabs and bottle caps are the same. They've been made differently over the years and they read with different TID numbers. Those aren't the only things that make them read with different numbers. Is it a whole pull-tab, or just the ring, or just the tail. Is the tail curved, or the ring bent. Is the bottle cap still in it's proper shape, or is it bent. Is it rusty and how much. How are these items laying in the ground.

All of these things will make them read in different places. Is it confusing, yes. I'll add frustrating to that.

While pull-tabs and bottle caps may have an area of the screen where they are more likely to read, they can read over a fairly wide area.

thanks for your responses very good information and it helps validate what I am seeing also with this new machine.

Something else I saw on the screen. The target trace vertical/ horizontal or some angled..... Is this always "junk" around the main target ID? Or could it be from the main target area or could it be two good targets depending its angle ie horizontal = good target next to primary target. Sorry if this question is confusing. Thanks for the help with this. I think Iam learning slowly!

If I do understand your question properly, no, it's not always junk. A good target doesn't always read stably. The stability of a good target can depend on a number of factors, including something as simple as how it lays in the ground. But you're right, it could be two good targets where the detector reads one, than the other one on the next pass. It could be as you say junk close to a good target. Or it might be nothing but junk.

Metal detecting just isn't a down-pat thing. With time, you'll learn to better determine a good target from a bad. But that will never be completely possible. There will always be many, many times that you just can't tell. Watch a number of the videos on the CTX 3030, or even other detectors. Most of those people making the videos are highly skilled. You'll see that many times they just bypass a signal because they can easily tell it was just trash. Other times they quickly zero in on a target and say something like, 'I think I've got a quarter here.' But, many times they go back and forth over a target trying to figure out what it is. They'll often turn 90 degrees and go back and forth over the target again trying to figure it out. Quite often you just can't tell. You just have to dig it.

frogmanungar, are you in a none frozen area? Can you go out to detect? Since you're writing in this post, were you able to download my CTX Training modes? The first step in that series is the most helpful. It finds more good targets than it does trash. That can be very helpful in learning what good targets look like without being confused by the trash. If you need help in getting it downloaded and imported into XChange 2, read the instructions I wrote and try to follow them step by step. If that doesn't do it, let me know. We'll work it out.

You can also use the Just for Fun search mode for learning. In fact, it might be just a little better for learning than CTX Training 1. I won't know that until I can go outside in the spring to test the differences between the two. CTX Training 1 is just a little expansion on Just for Fun.